June 26, 2018

'Guilty' trip

The first few months of the year have been very busy for me. In the lead up to AQC I promised myself that I would go away for a few days just to have a break and get away from the shop. Well that didn't happen as there was always something keeping me here and things that needed to be done. Then last month as Russell was talking about his impending trip to Sydney for the Rotax ProTour......go karts of course......I checked out the dates for Craft & Quilt Fair and found that the events were on at the same time. What are the chances! So I booked up Jodie for the Shop and Russell booked our flights and last Thursday we headed to sunny Sydney. Our accommodation was booked out at Eastern Creek, very close to the go kart track on the very aptly named Peter Brock Drive. This meant a bus and train trip for me to get into Darling Harbour which suited me fine as I didn't have to contend with road traffic and parking. A lot of people think that I am a very confident person but in reality I don't like unfamiliar things and not being in control (yes a control freak!) so having to navigate the Sydney transport system on my own was a big win for me. Friday was my day at the Quilt Show. The NSW Quilt Guild had 405 quilts on display of all shapes and sizes. Jenny Bowker's quilt, After the last sky was awarded Best in Show. It was truly magnificent. You can read about the quilt on Jenny's Blog. And for any local people who might recognise the name, Jenny is Matthew Bowker's (Kangaroobie at Princetown) aunt. I remember Matthew telling me quite a few years ago that his Aunt sewed things.....lol!

On leaving the quilt show area the very first person I heard.....and then saw.....lol!.....was my friend Sophie. An ex Melbourne girl now living in Sydney with her young family. Sophie has gone ahead in leaps and bounds with her sewing and is now designing under her Sew Swish Designs name.

I was also lucky enough to help out Lenora on her Elm Grove Patchwork stand for a couple of hours over the lunch time so that she and Amy could have a break. I know that I was meant to be having a break from all things shop related but this was different........all the fun and none of the worry......lol! Later on the charismatic Donna aka Chooky Blue popped by to say hello. It was great to meet up in real life and not just via our blogging.

I was also delighted that Ros aka Bloom stopped by for a chat. Ros has the most beautiful garden.....it puts mine to shame. She very kindly sent me some bulbs when she was moving properties and they remind me of her every time they bloom. I forgot to get a happy snap but you check out her blog here.

After mastering the skill of public transport in Sydney, I decided to 'pop' back into the city on the Saturday and check out the 'Lady and the Unicorn' Tapestry Exhibition at the Art Gallery. Long story short......no buses past the motel on the weekend.......25 minute walk to the bus stop.......one hour train trip stopping nearly all stations........20 minute walk to the Art Gallery......queue for tickets.......tickets sold out........disappointed.......25 minute walk to Darling Harbour........catch up with Lenora and Amy.........walk to the train station.......sore knee.........back to Eastern Creek. On the plus side........lots of steps for the day! Athough somewhere in the middle of it all I was thinking that I should have just stayed home and not bothered going away.

Sunday it was sleep in and then a short walk up to the Eastern Creek Raceway.

Russell was the Race Director for the meeting so was busy all weekend.

The racing went smoothly and we were all on our way back to the airport by about 2.30pm. We had a few hours to kill before our 6.15pm flight.........I spent it stitching and Russell spent it snoozing.

We arrived home and were all tucked up in bed by 11pm. While I did have an attack of the guilts half way through thinking about all of the jobs that I had waiting for me to do at home, I did really enjoy the time away, and meeting up with friends from afar. Oh and my knee is better too :)